Earlier this month, King and Country released two versions of the same Vietnam figure. One of them has one of the most fancy camo patterns ever produced by King and Country. This figure is none other than the VN139 - Green Beret Colonel In Tiger-Stripes.

The US Special Force, also known as the “Green Berets”, is an elite branch of the US army that is dealing with (you might have guessed it) special missions. Their nickname comes from the green beret they started to wear in 1954 and that became part of their official uniform in 1961. During the Vietnam War, they started to use a special camo type called “Tigerstripe”. The origins of this camo pattern are unsure, but it certainly originates from the asian countries with jungle territories. The most likely candidate is South Vietnam, where the first tiger striped uniforms for the Green Berets were commissioned. The Green Berets also have a surprisingly cool march song called “The Ballad Of The Green Berets”. Released in early 1966, it was a huge success and reached the #1 position in the US for five weeks!

The figure that we have here today represents a Green Beret with the 5th Special Forces Group insignia on the beret itself. He wears a particularly finely painted uniform with a three colors camo pattern. In his left hand, he carries his trusted M16 assault rifle. He stands firmly on his two legs with an authoritarian but somehow relaxed look.

His face, with eyes that are just like two small slits, has something vaguely cowboyish and familiar. This is because it’s unofficially a John Wayne figure from the 1968 movie The Green Berets. The sculpting job of the face is actually quite well done! The actor can easily be recognized from the side view where John Wayne’s profile is amazingly well replicated at a smaller scale.

As previously mentioned above, this figure has a twin brother with different colors called the VN127 - Green Beret Colonel. This was probably produced for two main reasons. First, John Wayne in the Green Berets movie wears both uniforms. So collectors can choose the version they prefer. Secondly, it also allows the collector to choose between two different price ranges. Camo patterns are quite costly to produce as they require a lot of work from the painters. This is why the VN139 with Tigerstripe camo costs 10$ US more than the all green VN127.

As a side note, did you know that modern camo patterns are a big concern for toy soldiers manufacturers? It’s true that creating toy soldiers based on recent wars is not something that is usually done these days. Time needs to pass so that we can take a step back before working on sensible topics like wars. But we are slowly getting to a point where wars that will soon be possible to cover have camo patterns that are impossible to paint easily and properly on mass produced figures! This threshold is around the late 90’s and early 2000’s and it corresponds to the age of numeric technologies. As it is right now, pixelated camo patterns such as the Universal Camouflage Pattern are too complex to be mass hand painted. In addition, the large bumpy surfaces from the clothing make it impossible to use decals. We still have a few years left before reaching that point, but this is currently a concern for many toy soldiers manufacturers. Hopefully future technologies will allow us to produced toy soldiers from the past more easily!

The end of the world as seen by a toy soldier manufacturer.
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So if you want a John Wayne in your collection, this figure (or the VN127) is the one you need to get. I now leave you with the trailer of the Green Berets (1968) that was released only 6 years after the look of that figure was officially adopted by the real Green Berets!